Younger conservatives say they are disappointed by Donald Trump’s decision to launch war against Iran. Key US politics stories from 29 March
A generational divide over the Iran war has emerged between older attendees and their political heirs at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, as the group’s leaders pleaded for unity ahead of a challenging midterm election year for Republicans.
Younger conservatives spoke of disappointment and even “betrayal” over Donald Trump’s launch of strikes against Iran, saying that the president’s actions run counter to his many pledges to oppose foreign entanglements.
Meanwhile, older conservatives were looking past Trump’s campaign criticism of military action to topple foreign regimes, arguing the war in Iran is a pragmatic act forced by threats to the US.
CPAC is usually a place of optimism, if not triumph. But for the first time in a decade, the president did not attend, apparently consumed with the war in Iran. In his absence, the audience gathered in a cavernous ballroom to hear well-known but less powerful Maga figures debate where their movement was heading. Chief among their concerns is how a president who campaigned on ending wars could find himself mulling a ground invasion of Iran.
